Their Time
by KatLeePT
Summary: Summer arrives for Eric and his beloved mentor. MALE/MALE ROMANCE. Alternate Universe Future Ficlet.


He was tired. It had been a long year, each day without the person he loved making it all the harder to survive and endure the rigors of school. It was funny, he thought as he got out of his car and lifted his nose in the salty sea air. He'd always thought it was hard learning new things, taking tests, and basically just being a kid, but just like the adults around him had all warned him at the time, being a grown up was a lot harder.

It was hard to see the children suffering and only being able to help them to a certain extent. It was hard knowing most of them would be gone when he returned to school and he'd have a new batch of little hellions to learn to control and help to learn. It was hard knowing that he was the only one who truly cared about many of them and even harder knowing he couldn't reach them all.

He'd caught an episode of _Pokemon_ that morning with his breakfast cereal and before leaving for his seaside home and couldn't help changing the show's catch phrase. Ash Ketchum might want to catch all of the Pokemon, and he might well have the ASPCA and a hundred other groups after him for that if he had really existed, but for Eric and for the man who had taught him so much of what he knew and after whom he had dedicated his life to teaching, the real goal was to save them all. There were so many lives that slipped through the cracks of society, so many children about whom no one else cared. He'd seen it first with the orphan he'd brought home to his family one Christmas Eve when he'd ben a teenager, and he saw it again every day he walked into his classroom. He tried to reach them all, just as Feeny had done before him, but there was only so much any one person could do.

He stopped walking and looked out toward the sea. Here, with sand beneath his toes, the waves crashing as far as his eyes could see, seagulls crying overhead, and no other life except those of his own and his lover's for miles around, he could almost forget about the children. He could almost forget there was a child dying every ten seconds, and that was just that statistics for hunger. Unshed tears moistened his eyes, but he tried to shake them away.

He tightened his hold on his bag and continued forward. He hadn't come here to dwell in the sorrows of what he couldn't solve. He hadn't come here to be depressed, and he certainly wasn't about to be sad or lonely with the person to whom he was heading. It was Summer. It was time to celebrate, time to forget the kids and the troubles of the world for a while. This was his time, his time to be happy, his time to be with the man he loved.

"Eric, my love!" He was greeted the very second he opened the door to the little cottage. Delicious aromas met his nose, and he knew why Feeny hadn't met him at the road. As he always did, he was foreseeing his needs and cooking what was sure to be a wonderful lunch. He dropped his bag on the immaculate floor as Feeny's arms surrounded him. Their embrace was every bit as warm and loving as it always had been when they were behind closed doors.

"Dinner won't be ready for another twenty minutes," George told him, grabbing his bag and leading him by hand into their bedroom. "Now sit and tell me everything." Seeing the sadness in Eric's eyes, his former teacher got right to the point. "Who did you save this year?"

Eric smiled, remembering. He had helped a lot of children this year, but as always, there were those who stood out among his classes. "There was a little boy who lost his hearing. I helped him learn sign language. And little Zoey was diagnosed with autism."

Feeny nodded wisely. "I told you there was something keeping her back from learning. Did she get to graduate this year?"

"She did," Eric said, smiling. His eyes were growing wet again, but this time, for an entirely different reason. "And then there was this little, black girl. She was so tiny and so skinny, George. You should've seen her."

"I can imagine," he spoke softly, his mustache twitching. "Her family had no food, did they?"

"They do," Eric assured him, "and have since the day I found her eating out of the garbage."

Feeny shuddered visibly but sat down and wrapped his arms around Eric. "I wish you could see them, Feeny. Her whole family's doing better now. Her brother's come back to school, and she's at the top of her class. Her little sister will be coming into my class in two more years, and every one talked about how they improved."

"But you told no one the reason why, did you?"

"Of course not. You taught me well. But I do wish you could see them!"

"I know, darling, but you know how unseemly it would look if we spent as much time together there as we do here. Your parents were already becoming suspicious. That's why I had to move."

"I know, but I still wish we could tell them! It's not fair that we have to hide out like this!"

"Life is never fair, sweetheart."

"I know. You say that every time!"

"I don't want to happen to you what happens to say many young gays."

"But I'm a grown man now!"

George tenderly ran his aged fingers through Eric's brown locks. "Do you want to lose your parents? Your family? Your job? No parent would let you near their kid if they found out about our relationship."

"I know, I know . . . but . . . "

"It hurts," George admitted, lifting his chin and gazing into his eyes. "I know, dearest. I miss you every second of every day you're away. I pour through books every year while you're teaching, trying to find the apt words to describe how I feel about you, but nothing comes close. I love you more even than the greatest lovers of all time."

Eric grinned. "'Course you do, Fuh-eee-eee-ney, because we _are_ the greatest lovers of all time!"

"Shall we test your theory?" Feeny asked, his mouth angling for his young love's.

"Fuh-eee-eee-ney," Eric teased, eyes now glistening, "get down with your bad self!" He started to lower back onto the bed, drawing Feeny closer with him.

"I always do," George cooed against his mouth. He angled his face so that his gray mustache tickled Eric's soft skin. He laughed, but then he captured his laughter with his mouth, taking his tongue into him and making love to that wild, young mouth he'd missed for so long. Eric was more than ready. He arched up against him, his hands grabbing him and pulling him down even closer as his tongue twisted around his.

For a time, they forgot the world. For a time, they forgot they had to hide. For a time, their time, always far too short, there was only the two of them and their love that sang hotter and sweeter than any Summer breeze.

The End


End file.
